1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a driver circuit and to an integrated circuit.
2. Background of the Invention
Driver circuits, in particular high side driver circuits (also known as high side switches), are commonly used in various electronic applications. A challenging aspect of the design of such driver circuits relates to the control of the state of the circuits with a high level of reliability under bad conditions of operation. Bad conditions of operation include, for instance, operation under strong ElectroMagnetic Interference (EMI) disturbances.
In particular, if the desired state of the circuit is OFF, any inadvertent change to the ON state is to be avoided and, conversely, if the desired state of the circuit is ON, any inadvertent change to the OFF state is also to be avoided. The compliance of the circuit with such requirements may be assessed using standard testing methods like, for instance, “Direct Power Injection” (DPI) or “Bulk Current Injection” (BCI) testing methods.
Existing design solutions may not be sufficiently robust against certain EMI disturbances.